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A local girl's sour lemonade immediately struck Debra Kaye, a
partner at Lucule, a New York City-based innovation consulting
firm, as a product destined to disappoint consumers. The girl's
father, who expressed the opinion that people consume too much
sugar these days, had made the batch with only one-fourth of the
typical amount of sugar used in lemonade. Soon the girl was
packing up her lemonade stand. "Trying to change people to
accommodate your product is a recipe for failure," Kaye says. "If
you think you can change customers' behavior, think again."

Similarly, it's a mistake to market a lifestyle that customers
don't want. Take Talbot's, the women's clothing retailer that is
known for its conservative business attire. Talbot's stock has
taken a hit as the jobs market remains weak and professional
women seek more casual clothes in which they can transition
easily from day to night, says Kaye. Fashion retailer J. Crew, by
contrast, has posted soaring profits thanks to its understanding
of customers' changing desires. "It provides business casual
clothes that meet the customer's desire to transition from work
to play and back to work again with ease and style," Kaye says.
More: Marketing's Best
Kept Secret

Be open and honest, even when you can't share all the
details.
In business meetings, honesty is the best policy, says Carey
Cavanaugh, a professor of diplomacy at the University of Kentucky
and a former U.S. ambassador. Being honest is crucial for
reputation-building, he says, but it doesn't mean showing all
your cards. Just be upfront about what you can and can't reveal
when it comes to your company, Cavanaugh says. Things to keep to
yourself might include an upcoming product launch or an expansion
plan. As long as you're open about the need to keep certain
aspects of your business private, no one will take offense.
More: Lessons From a
Diplomat on How to Build Business Relationships

Seek fairness in your business
relationships.
Many professionals view business as a zero-sum game, with winners
and losers. Yet in your personal business relationships you
should "have the humility to seek out long-term, positive-sum
collaborations with others," says Victor Hwang, chief executive
and co-founder of Silicon Valley-based T2 Venture Capital. "You
can't innovate alone. You need partners to take on the journey
with you," Hwang says. And who doesn't want to partner with
someone known for looking out for his partners? More:
The 5 Rules
for Silicon Valley Success That Can Work Anywhere

Over-delivering can be as much of a problem as
under-delivering.
The downside of under-delivering is obvious. But over-delivering
can be just as bad, says Peter Jerkewitz, founder of
Seattle-based NovusWorks, a business operations consulting firm,
and author of Choose Not to Fail (PonderWhy, 2012). He
uses the example of a creative team that must design a new ad
campaign. The team's goal should be to deliver a small number of
high-quality designs, not to produce a large number of designs in
the hope that one will "stick." To solve this problem with your
employees, give better direction and encourage a thoughtful
approach to accomplishing tasks. More: 3 Ways Teams
Undermine Themselves

Do due diligence on your investors.
Entrepreneurs, especially first-time founders, tend to be hungry
for investment. But it's a mistake to rush into anything. Just as
investors do due diligence on you and your company before
offering funds, you should check them out before accepting, says
Mo Koyfman, a general partner at Spark Capital, a Boston-based
venture capital firm. Meet with VCs in person, spend time getting
to know them and talk to other people who have worked with them.
"Ultimately, personalities don't always match and things don't
work and you can't predict how things are going to go," Koyfman
says. "That's why you have to meet with people." More:
A Young VC on How Young Entrepreneurs Can Land Cash for Their
Young Companies